Demi Vollering happy but not yet fully satisfied at the women’s Giro d’Italia

Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) was beaten by Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) in Tuesday’s mountain time trial, but a day later she claimed her coveted stage win in a 146-kilometre mountain stage. In doing so, the Dutch rider took her first stage victory in the Giro d’Italia Women, which naturally brought plenty of joy.

Knowing that Van der Breggen had only four team-mates left and that Vollering still had more than a minute to make up, FDJ-Suez made it a very hard race from the start. “It was a long, difficult day,” said the eventual winner as she began her flash interview.

“We started racing early and wanted to get into the break, which we managed with Lauren and Amber,” she said, referring to Dickson and Kraak. In particular, Dickson — who was still sixth overall before the stage — did several strong turns near the end, from which the team leader benefited.

“That was the plan,” said the 26-year-old Briton, who only turned pro this year after years in trail running and triathlon, speaking to Eurosport. “And we stuck to it. We wanted to test the other riders, because we still need to make up time. This is probably my hardest day ever on a bike, but Demi’s legs did not let us down.”

Vollering praised Dickson’s work. “She and Amber did a really great job. I was able to bridge across to Lauren so that she could continue riding at the front. In hindsight it may have been a bit early, because uphill I could no longer make the difference. All in all, though, it was a beautiful day, where we raced with everything we had.”

Saturday brings the queen stage over the Finestre, but first the peloton still has two transition stages to get through. In the general classification, Vollering still trails Van der Breggen by a minute.